Chicago Blackhawks send bold message to young players by healthy scratching former first round draft pick
Photo credit: NHL
The Blackhawks have moved around a lot of lines before tonight's game against the Bruins in Boston, and one of the changes includes a healthy scratching of a former first-round draft selection.
Reichel hasn't been doing all too much the last few games, with his last point being a goal against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 23rd, which was six games ago.
Lukas Reichel for Pat Maroon.
This scratch also comes after Reichel was scratched for the game on April 4th against the Washington Capitals in a 5-3 loss for missing a team meeting.
Reichel said that his phone had died and his alarm didn't go off and mentioned that it will never happen again.
Lukas Reichel, who was a healthy scratch on Friday because he was late to a team meeting, said his phone died and he didn't have a charger: «It sucked but it's not going to happen again. I've never been late to a meeting one time, I just wasn't smart enough.» #Blackhawks
When Reichel burst on the scene as the 17th overall pick in the 2020 draft, from scoring his first goal against the Calgary Flames in 2023, he had a very high ceiling.
Unfortunately, that all fell off, as last year he only had 16 points in 65 games and was scratched a lot.
The same story continued into this season, where he was scratched for consecutive games in a row and only has seven goals and 21 points in 68 games.
The team meeting really didn't help his case because he was already being scratched, and now laying an egg certainly didn't help either.
The fanbase defended Lukas, but both Luke Richardson and Anders Sorensen saw the same thing in Reichel: that his game isn't complete. Reichel is one of the fastest players in the league and has decent goal-scoring abilities; however, he just can't put it all together.
Reichel was signed to a two-year contract, so hopefully, he can put it all together and prove that he isn't a bust.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 10 | 1418 ANSWERS Chicago Blackhawks send bold message to young players by healthy scratching former first round draft pick Do you think the Chicago Blackhawks should part ways with this former first round pick? | ||
| Yes | 929 | 65.5 % |
| No | 489 | 34.5 % |
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